NEW DELHI — Indian refiners are avoiding Russian oil purchases for delivery in April and are expected to stay away from such trades for longer, refining and trade sources said, a move that could help New Delhi seal a trade pact with Washington.

The US and India moved closer to a trade pact on Friday, announcing a framework for a deal they hope to conclude by March that would lower tariffs and deepen economic cooperation.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Reliance Industries are not accepting offers from traders for Russian oil loading in March and April, said a trader who approached the refiners.

These refiners, however, had already scheduled some deliveries of Russian oil in March, refining sources said. Most other refiners have stopped buying Russian crude.

TRUMP SAYS INDIA ‘COMMITTED’ TO HALTING PURCHASES
The three refiners and the oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The trade minister on Saturday referred questions about Russian oil to the foreign ministry.

A foreign ministry spokesperson said: “Diversifying our energy sourcing in keeping with objective market conditions and evolving international dynamics is at the core of our strategy” to ensure energy security for the world’s most populous nation.

Although a US-India statement on the trade framework did not mention Russian oil, President Donald J. Trump rescinded his 25% tariffs on Indian goods, imposed over Russian oil purchases, because, he said, New Delhi had “committed to stop directly or indirectly” importing Russian oil.

New Delhi has not announced plans to halt Russian oil imports.

India became the top buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, spurring a backlash from Western nations that had targeted Russia’s energy sector with sanctions aimed at curtailing Moscow’s revenue and making it harder to fund the war.

INDIA’S RUSSIAN-OIL IMPORTS A FRACTION OF 2025 LEVELS
One regular Indian buyer is Russia-backed private refiner Nayara, which relies solely on Russian oil for its 400,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery. Sources said Nayara may be allowed to keep buying Russian oil because other crude sellers pulled back after the European Union sanctioned the refiner in July.

Nayara also does not plan to import Russian crude in April due to a month-long refinery maintenance shutdown, a source familiar with its operations said.

Nayara did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Indian refiners may change their plan and place orders for Russian oil only if advised by the government, sources said.

Mr. Trump’s order said US officials would monitor and recommend reinstating the tariffs if India resumed oil procurement from Russia.

Sources said last month that India was preparing to cut Russian oil imports below 1 million bpd by March, with volumes eventually falling to 500,000-600,000 bpd, compared with an average 1.7 million bpd last year. India’s Russian oil imports topped 2 million bpd in mid-2025.

The intake of Russian oil by India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer and importer, declined to its lowest level in two years in December, data from trade and industry sources show.

Indian refiners have been buying more oil from Middle Eastern, African and South American countries as they scale back Russian oil purchases. — Reuters

SYDNEY — Australia’s conservative opposition coalition reunited on Sunday after the junior partner National Party severed ties last month with the Liberal Party over its decision to back government hate speech laws drafted in the wake of the Bondi massacre.

“The coalition is back together and looking to the future, not to the past,” Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said alongside National Party leader David Littleproud in a media conference televised from Canberra.

The coalition split, the second in less than a year, was triggered after Australia’s parliament passed the center-left Labor government’s anti-hate laws in the wake of the mass shooting that killed 15 in December. The laws were backed by the Liberal Party but opposed by some National Party senators.

“It’s been disappointing, we’ve got to where we are, but it was over a substantive issue,” Mr. Littleproud said.

Under the long-standing partnership, the Nationals broadly represent the interests of rural communities and the Liberals city seats.

The coalition has come under recent pressure from populist Senator Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration One Nation party, which has surged in polling, while the Liberal Party lost a swath of seats at last year’s federal election, won by Labor in a landslide. — Reuters

COVENTRY — South Africa would be keen to utilize new European Central Bank (ECB) repo lines if available, the country’s central bank head Lesetja Kganyago said on Saturday, adding that his country’s interest-rate-cutting cycle still had some way to go.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said this week the bank was planning to make its repo liquidity lines cheaper and easier to access in an effort to boost the euro’s international role. The repo lines allow foreign central banks to borrow euros against collateral denominated in the single currency and are designed for times of crisis.

South Africa’s veteran central bank head Mr. Kganyago said his country would benefit from the lines, given the vast amount of trade and investment that comes from Europe.

“To the extent that you’d have a repo line with the ECB, that would help to underpin that trade,” Mr. Kganyago said in an interview on the sidelines of the Warwick Economics Summit in Coventry, England. “It would be a welcome development.”

CENTRAL BANK WATCHING FOR SLOWING INFLATION
On South Africa’s own interest rates, he said last month’s decision to keep them at 6.75% meant they were “still distant from the terminal rate.”

Policymakers want to see inflation slow further before it starts moving again, but their current projection is for two more 25-basis-point rate cuts this year, plus another next year.

“This forecast of the rate path is not a policy commitment; it’s a guideline that changes from meeting to meeting,” Mr. Kganyago said.

One of the things that has helped drive inflation down over the last year has been the sharp rise of the rand.

That has only started to falter in recent weeks amid jittery global markets, including gold, of which South Africa is a major producer. But Mr. Kganyago sees little issue, viewing the broader rise as an acknowledgement of improvements in economic policies.

“What is also important to note here is that the volatility of the currency has declined. The rand used to be a very volatile currency.”

BUILDING BRICS
Mr. Kganyago, in his third term as governor, also talked about the “weaponization” of the international financial system.

He stressed emerging market economies were not engaged in any deliberate attempt to dethrone the US dollar but are looking to protect themselves from the kind of treatment Russia saw when it was cut off from critical financial plumbing such as the SWIFT messaging system.

Access to dollar channels is clearly “a privilege, not a right,” Mr. Kganyago said, but stressed the dollar would remain dominant and that he sees little prospect of a Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) currency.

It is an idea floated by Russia and Brazil and is expected to be a topic of discussion when India hosts the BRICS summit later this year, despite US President Donald J. Trump threatening 100% tariffs on any nation that joins it.

“I do not see how they (BRICS countries) do it without a BRICS central bank,” Mr. Kganyago said.

He also said South Africa’s currency reserves composition — roughly 60% in dollars at the moment — reflected trade patterns and will not change unless those flows shift.

The true motivation for fast‑payment system interoperability, he argued, is reducing the high cost and friction of cross‑border payments, especially in Africa, where non‑convertibility forces trade to be invoiced in dollars through multi‑bank chains. — Reuters